The Monster Employment Index is a monthly gauge of online job posting activity in Middle-East based on a real-time review of tens of thousands of employer job opportunities culled from a large representative selection of career Web sites and online job listings. The Index does not reflect the trend of any one advertiser or source, but is an aggregate measure of the change in job listings across the industry.

“Monster Employment Index has shown remarkable growth in online recruitment led by steep growth in the UAE and stable growth in most of the Gulf countries monitored by MEI. The industry saw a 25% growth in KSA last month with Sales and BD professionals exhibiting the steepest annual growth for the fourth month in succession.In the UAE, the BFSI sector witnessed a 17% y-o-y growth and was seen as the top-growth sector by the way of long-term progress with Purchase/Logistics/Supply Chain professionals showing the most demand with a 60% y-o-y growth among all occupation groups. The Advertising, Market Research, Public Relations, Media and Entertainment sector registers the steepest annual decline falling 19% y-o-y but we can expect the industry to jump in the coming months as has been the trend in the previous months.

The Hospitality sector, which is the key driver of economic growth and diversification for many Gulf countries, has exhibited the most significant growth.” said Sanjay Modi, Managing Director, Monster.com (India/Middle East/South East Asia/ Hong Kong).

• Hospitality sector has been charting robust annual growth in online recruitment since March 2014. The sector led all monitored industry sectors this month registering a 48 percent growth on the year and 22 percent growth on the month.

• BFSI (up 30 percent) continues to rank among the top five. The sector saw a two percentage point improvement in the pace of long-term growth between May and June 2014. However, hiring activity in the sector has eased vis-à-vis the six month ago level. There is a six percent drop in opportunities available when compared to December 2013.

• Recruitment in Engineering, Construction and Real Estate (up four percent) sector exceeded the year-ago level once again following low levels in May 2014. Online recruitment in Production/Manufacturing, Automotive and Ancillary (down one percent) neared the level attained a year-ago. The Index reading for the sector, nevertheless, was still much below the baseline of 100.

Occupation Year-over-Year Trends: Online demand expanded in eightof the eleven occupation groups monitored by the Index.
• There is a greater demand for Hospitality and Travel personnel. The group saw a remarkable 59 percent growth in opportunities between June 2013 and 2014; the steepest among all occupation groups. At the same time, online demand was 19 percent and 24 percent above the three-month and six-month ago level

• Engineering and Production saw a positive growth on the month for the first time since January 2014. An 11 percent month-on-month growth is also the steepest among all occupation groups. The long-term growth momentum also improved nine percentage points from two percent in May 2014 to 11 percent in June 2014

• Legal (down five percent) saw a negative annual demand for the first time since June 2013. Customer Service (down 29 percent) registered the steepest annual decline among all occupation groups.

Geographic Year-over-year Trends:Online job availability improved in five of the seven countries monitored by the Index.

• KSA (up five percent), on the other hand, exhibited a positive growth on the year for the first time since January 2013.
• Bahrain saw steep month-on-month growth. Online recruitment stabilized at the year-ago level having exhibited fewer opportunities on the year in April and May 2014
• UAE (up 25 percent) registered the second positive and also the steepest annual growth among all monitored cities. UAEs job market appears to have rebounded following 14 months of slump from March 2013 until April 2014

• Egypt followed closely charting a 23 percent growth on the year. Egypt has been the most consistently growing market since March 2013. Furthermore, online recruitment in the country has been exhibiting double-digit year-on-year growth rates incessantly since May 2013
• Online recruitment slipped below that year ago level in Qatar (down five percent) for the first time since March 2012. Qatar is the only country to register a negative annual growth this month

Country-wise trends

KSA Highlights

• Monster Employment Index KSA registers a positive growth on the year; up five percent
• Advertising, Market Research, Public Relations, Media and Entertainment continues to lead all sectors by the way of long-term growth
• Year-on-year, online recruitment contracts the most in Oil and Gas sector
• Among occupation groups, Sales and BD professionals exhibit the steepest annual growth for the fourth month in succession